Proper Technique For Coming to a Stop with a Manual Transmission

[SBT]

BUT on certain sections of road I'll just use the brakes and coast to a stop... during those occasions I've found the while coasting to a stop I can just bump the car out of gear without the clutch at all... i.e in 6th and rolling to a stop once the rpms hit about 1K I can just nudge the stick and it pops out of gear smooth as silk.

 

Can that cause any long term damage? Wonder if that is a habit I shouldn't get into.

 

If you're bumping it out without using the clutch, this could cause a shifter fork to bend if there were any kind of load put on the drive train (off throttle decelerating that you mention). It won't feel like much, but if it's "popping" out, then you're putting move leverage on the shift fork than you think you are. If it glided out to neutral, like it would with a clutch shift into neutral, that's likely not going to hurt anything, it's when you have to "add" additional shove/pull to move it that you're at risk. Every once in a while, probably not big deal, but definitely a no-no for the long-term. Just my experience.

SBT

[DaBigKid]

not only is downshifting effecting your clutch but think about the teeth in your gears. downshifting wears the teeth out up to 10x faster than upshifting. like everyone else says just use your brakes.

 

my technique is to leave it in what ever gear im in until i get close to the stop and put it in nuetral when i do stop

[SBT]

10x faster, eh? Any proof of this?

 

I'd really like to see this too as 150-200K miles on stock clutch is not 10x faster IME.

SBT

[DrCloud]

^^No, No, he said "up to 10x faster..."

 

That could mean anything except more than 10x faster, so he's covered.

 

Of course, it's also a meaningless statement. HPH